Once Upon A Time In America
It was a cold January morning,
all around looked a bit boring.
In Washington’s subway
was the beginning of the ordinary day.
Everyone was in a hurry,
they didn’t want to worry
and didn’t pay attention
to the man I would like here to mention.
The passer-bys didn’t clap
to the man wearing jeans and baseball cap.
They all looked at the clock,
so that to get in time for their work.
It was not a tradition
to listen to a street musician.
That man played his violin.
He didn’t try to win.
He was in his own skin.
Would you like to know?
It was certainly not a show.
But…he played
the most beautiful works of art,
the best musical compositions.
Those sounds could touch anyone’s heart
if they were played in another condition.
Now, I would like to tell.
That man was Joshua Bell,
the famous American violinist.
He didn’t persist on subway’s stage,
He was not in a rage for earning 32 dollars,
playing only 45 minutes.
For a street player it’s a good salary,
considering the USA country.
But…you know what?
There is something I forgot.
Two days before
His salary was insanely more.
For the concert in Boston it was a million
because he was really brilliant.
But…in Washington’s subway
Everyone went away
without hearing his play.
Here is my comment.
It was an experiment
suggested by Washington Post.
I don’t know it’s cost
but I know quite well
we do not hear even the church bell.
We are blind and deaf
And it’s the biggest grief.
One man from that subway’s crowd had said:
He played too loud.
©Larisa Rzhepiahevska
The 5th of March,2011
poem by Larisa Rzhepishevska
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
No rush
I waited on the subway platform
and listened to a young woman
play acoustic guitar and sing
her face was round and her eyes
were wide with hope, she delicately played
as her voice draped over the
passing trains, her song kept pouring
soon there was a small crowd around her
watching her thick black braided hair swing
with the melody of her sounds
she made me forget about my train
I smiled at her soft pale face
and gave her a buck
several other people followed
and she played harder
her voice grew louder
and more trains passed
nobody got on
nobody cared
and nobody looked at their watches
we had cornered an angel
and we didn't want to let go
she stopped and took a small bow
and put away her guitar
the crowd thinned out
and my train pulled up
I looked at her one last time
she smiled and counted her dollars
I boarded the train and hummed
her songs all the way home
poem by Charles Lara
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I played Othello, but I didn't sit around thinking how Laurence Olivier did it when he played it. That wouldn't do me any good.
quote by Denzel Washington
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Church of the Little Drummer Boy
He didn't do it for money,
He didn't to it for power,
It wasn't an inside job,
And he probably wasn't real.
But he wasn't controlled by the Mafia,
Maybe he was just a dream,
Or maybe just a hope,
Of what Christmas might mean.
Over the years many a child
Has heard of the Little Drummer Boy,
How he played his drum for Jesus
To bring the Baby some joy.
He didn't do it to be a big shot,
He wasn't Ginger Baker,
He played out of musical love,
And he wasn't a faker.
If you're looking for religion,
The Drummer Boy is good to go,
I mean, he's as churchy as it gets,
Considering the show.
poem by Richard Jarboe
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I Can Play (Lyrics) :
He didn't give himself up to fear.
And his voice had a life of its own.
He didn't give himself up for broke.
Just a man who played his guitar.
He said 'I can play the guitar', 'I can play it clear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the songs that you want to hear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play it clear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the songs that you want to hear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
He didn't give himself up to drinking beer.
His voice still had a life of its own.
And he didn't give himself up for smoke.
Just a man who played his guitar.
He said 'I can play the guitar'.'I can play it clear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the songs that you want to hear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play it clear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the songs that you want to hear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
He didn't give himself up to curcumstance.
Always tried to make it alone.
He didn't give himself up to telling lies.
His honesty was already shown.
Always kept himself up to par.
Just a man who played his guitar.
He said 'I can play the guitar'.'I can play it clear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the songs that you want to hear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play it clear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'.
'I can play the songs that you want to hear'.
'I can play the guitar'.'I can play'...
Rock Lyric By Kim Robin Edwards
Copyright 1987,2009..
ALL rights reserved..
poem by Kim Robin Edwards
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Didnt Know
Didn't know what you had
Until you lost it
Didn't know what you own
Until you got it
Didn't know of your sins
Until you fought it.
Didn't know what you needed
Until you sought it.
Didn't know your lies
Until someone spoke them
Didn't know of the truth
Until someone wrote them
Didn't remembered your dreams
Until someone awoke them
Didn't know they died
Until someone chocked them.
Didn't know you had guilt
Until you cried
Didn't know you felt sadness
Until you tried to hide
Didn't know you felt shame
Until you lied
Didn't know you believed in GOD
Until you asked him why.
Didn't know you felt sorrow
Until you shed a tear
Didn't know that you were scared
Until I saw your fear
Didn't know that you hated
Until you were near
Didn't know that you were unhappy
Until you looked in a mirror.
Didn't know who you truly were
Until your ways you sewed
Didn't know that you were evil
Until the truth was showed
Didn't know you did this before
Until I saw all of your woe
Didn't know who you really were
Though I wished then I did know.
Randy L. McClave
poem by Randy McClave
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We All Fall In Love Sometimes
(live on the air - The Music Fawcet WFMU, October 11, 1992; Elton John cover)
Wise men say, it looks like rain today
it crackled onthe speakers and
trickled down the sleepy subway train
heavy eyes could hardly hold us
aching legs that often told us
Its all worth saying
We all fall in love sometimes
The full moon's bright
and starlight filled the evening
We wrote it and I played it
Something happend its so strange this feeling
Naive notions that were childish
Simple tunes I tried to hide it when it comes
We all fall in love sometimes
Didn't we, Didn't we, shouldn't we, couldn't we
I'm not sure but sometimes we're so blind
struggling through the day,
when even your best friends say
Dont you find
We all fall in love sometimes
song performed by by Jeff Buckley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Loved
I loved,
But didn’t speak about it.
I loved,
But didn’t show my feelings.
I loved,
But didn’t expose my soul.
I was speechless
And I was tireless
To listen to your words.
For me they were singing birds.
I loved
And I had seen a wonder.
I loved,
Was not afraid of any thunder.
I loved
And heard only your voice.
You were my only rejoice.
Your eyes sparkled,
They were two shining miracles.
My heart used to sank
As only you touched my hand.
That was long time ago.
My love I didn’t show
As I was only seventeen
And all around seemed blue and green.
©Larisa Rzhepishevska
The 5th of April,2011
poem by Larisa Rzhepishevska
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Give You What You Want
Why didn't I call, why didn't I fall
Why didn't I hang my heart on your wall
Why didn't I know, why didn't I show
All my feelings from the word go
So if you love me, don't leave me
I promise that you'll never lack
'Cause this man's on his knees,
begging' please
Baby turn your back, yeah
I'll give you what you want
I'll do anything to make you mine
If you give me what I want
I will be yours to the end of time
Girl you won't be sorry
And you won't regret it
There's no need to worry, only if you let it
Why didn't I say, the thing that I read
Why didn't I see the signs in my head
Why didn't I speak, to you last week
When I saw you walking down my street
So if you love me, don't leave me
Alone here to die on this track
Girl rescue me, let's get this train
And we'll never look back
[Chorus]
Girl you won't be sorry
And you won't regret it
There's no need to worry, only if you let it
Oh, wow I can't let go
Oh, wow, I swear I'll take it slow
[Chorus (repeat)]
song performed by by Ronan Keating
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Axe Concerto
Grandfather John, my mother's dad,
remarried later on in life.
When he passed on his vast wealth
passed largely to this second wife.
Thus did her children benefit
from the bulk of his estate.
My mother and my Uncle John
relatively little, sad to state.
Sometime after the internment date
a piano was shipped to our home.
A piece Step- Grandma didn't want
She didn't play and lived alone.
When my mother was a child
living up in Marble Hill
She'd learned to play the instrument
that now she merely wished to kill.
In mortal rage she grabbed an axe
and like a batter swung away
It was a fair bit of exercise
(She had played baseball in her day.)
Such sounds that spinet then produced
were likely never heard before.
such atonal melodies
as she ripped and smashed its core.
the Axe concerto was concluded
when only splinters still remained
She went and stored the axe away-
After than she never played
poem by John F. McCullagh
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The Three Foxes
Once upon a time there were three little foxes
Who didn’t wear stockings, and they didn’t wear sockses,
But they all had handkerchiefs to blow their noses,
And they kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.
And they lived in forest in three little houses,
And they didn’t wear coats, and they didn’t wear trousies.
They ran through the woods on their little bare tootsies,
And they played “Touch Last” with a family of mouses.
They didn’t go shopping in the High Street shopses,
But caught what they wanted in the woods and copses.
They all went fishing, and they caught three wormses,
They went out hunting, and they caught three wopses.
They wen to a Fair, and they all won prizes —
Tree plum-puddingses and three mince-pieses.
They rode on elephants and swang on swingses,
And hit three coco-nuts at coco-nut shieses.
That’s all I know of three little foxes
Who kept their handkerchiefs in three little boxes.
They lived in the forest in three little houses,
But they didn’t wear coats and they didn’t wear trousies,
And they didn’t wear stockings and they didn’t wear sockses.
poem by Alan Alexander Milne
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Father Boy
Oh Father Boy, Oh Father Boy
You didn’t see the signs
You didn’t hear a thing did you
Oh Father Boy, my dear
You didn’t see, you didn’t look, you didn’t listen either
You didn’t try to understand
You didn’t take the time
You weren’t a Father, Father Boy, you weren’t a Father, Father.
Oh Father Boy, Father Boy
When a Father has a Boy
To be a Father, Father see
You have to see the Boy
The Boy inside the Father
And the Father in the Boy
But Father Boy, Oh Father Boy
You just didn’t pay attention
For a Boy to be a Father, Father
He cannot be a Father Boy.
(Previously published in Megaera, #4, Fall 2000)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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Didn't You Know
(nickolas ashford/valerie simpson)
Remember when you left?
You had your own rules about playing the game
And any day, you could walk away feeling no pain
Now look at yourself
You're all hung up on somebody else
And in your eyes i see all the signs of the misery
That you laid on me
Baby, baby
Didn't you know you'd have to cry sometime?
Didn't you know
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know that you'd lose your pride?
Didn't anybody tell you love had another side?
You used to be so proud
Now, your head's a little lower
And you walk slower
And you don't talk so loud
You've gotten wise
You know how love can build you up one moment
And the next, cut you down to size
Then you discover
All she told you was a bunch of lies
Baby, baby
Didn't you know you'd have to cry sometime?
Didn't you know
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know that you'd lose your pride?
Didn't anybody tell you love had another side?
Baby, baby
Didn't you know you'd have to cry sometime?
Didn't you know
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know you'd have to cry sometime?
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Didn't You Know (You'd Have To Cry Sometime)
(Nickolas Ashford/Valerie Simpson)
Remember when you left?
You had your own rules about playing the game
And any day, you could walk away feeling no pain
Now look at yourself
You're all hung up on somebody else
And in your eyes I see all the signs of the misery
That you laid on me
Baby, baby
Didn't you know you'd have to cry sometime?
Didn't you know
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know that you'd lose your pride?
Didn't anybody tell you love had another side?
You used to be so proud
Now, your head's a little lower
And you walk slower
And you don't talk so loud
You've gotten wise
You know how love can build you up one moment
And the next, cut you down to size
Then you discover
All she told you was a bunch of lies
Baby, baby
Didn't you know you'd have to cry sometime?
Didn't you know
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know that you'd lose your pride?
Didn't anybody tell you love had another side?
Baby, baby
Didn't you know you'd have to cry sometime?
Didn't you know
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know you'd have to cry sometime?
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
Didn't you know you'd have to hurt sometime?
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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All I Need Was You
Outside the church bells toll
For this wasteland we call home
There's nowhere left to hide or run to
Daddy drank real hard late at night
He'd say without love life's a long fight
l promised I'd win one fight for him babe
The storm outside is raging
I close my eyes l think about you babe
There's got to be something left worth saving
We've wasted too much time
I played the fool I played the soldier
But my struggling days are over
I wanted everything
When all l needed was you babe
l didn't understand I was just a young boy
All I wanted was the rich man's play toys
I didn't really care how I got there baby
Now I've seen a thousand dreams die
In the oil fields in the coal mines
No need to wonder why
nobody's satisfied lately
The storm outside is raging
I close my eyes l think about you babe
There's got to be something left worth saving
We've wasted too much time
I played the fool I played the soldier
But my struggling days are over
I wanted everything
When all l needed was you babe
song performed by by Bon Jovi
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Carlos Drummond de Andrade: A tribute
What now, José?
The party’s over,
the lights are off,
the crowd’s gone,
the night’s gone cold,
what now, José?
what now, you?
you without a name,
who mocks the others,
you who write poetry
who love, protest?
what now, José?
You have no wife,
you have no speech
you have no affection,
you can’t drink,
you can’t smoke,
you can’t even spit,
the night’s gone cold,
the day didn’t come,
the tram didn’t come,
laughter didn’t come
utopia didn’t come
and everything ended
and everything fled
and everything rotted
what now, José?
what now, José?
Your sweet words,
your instance of fever,
your feasting and fasting,
your library,
your gold mine,
your glass suit,
your incoherence,
your hate—what now?
Key in hand
you want to open the door,
but no door exists;
you want to die in the sea,
but the sea has dried;
you want to go to Minas
but Minas is no longer there.
José, what now?
If you screamed,
if you moaned,
if you played
a Viennese waltz,
if you slept,
if you tired,
if you died…
But you don’t die,
you’re stubborn, José!
Alone in the dark
like a wild animal,
without tradition,
without a naked wall
to lean against,
without a black horse
that flees galloping,
you march, José!
José, where to?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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I have gone on the air and announced my telephone number at the Washington Post. I go into the night, talking to people, looking for things. The great dreaded thing every reporter lives with is what you don't know. The source you didn't go to. The phone call you didn't return.
quote by Bob Woodward
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Danceway
Be my tv guide in between the stations.
Be my satellite: secret information.
Stairway going one way to the subway.
Waiting for the train.
Take it to the runway.
Journal in the square, fingers in the hairdo.
England in the air, beatle in the bathroom.
Highway going one way or another.
Lets get in the car.
Brooklyn queens expressway.
Turning in the light, singing to the doorway.
Standing on the side, listen to the subway.
(no one understands you, upperhands you, lonely valentine.
Bell and book and candle.)
song performed by by Blondie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When Buddy played, he played all out, all the time. It was a wonder he didn't keel over and die before he did.
Make It All OK
You threw away the ballast and you rowed your boat ashore
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You made your ultimatum too big to ignore
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So you worked out your excuses,
turned away and shut the door.
The world's too vast for us now,
and you wanted to explore
It's a long, long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your hand again I'd have to walk away.
When I saw you at the street fair, you called out my name
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You said we could start over, try and make it all okay.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So our past has been rewritten
and you threw away the pen.
You'd said that I was useless,
but now you'll take me in again
Well Jesus loves me fine.
And your words fall flat this time.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say,
"We don't have a prayer between us."
Didn't you believe that I have finally turned away?
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
Anything to hold onto to help me through my day.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
Jesus loves me fine.
But his words fall flat this time.
It's a long, long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your world, did you think I'd really stay?
If you offered me the heavens, I would have to turn away.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say,
"We don't have a prayer between us."
Didn't you, now? Didn't you, now?
Didn't you?
song performed by by REM
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Make It All Okay
You threw away the ballast and you rowed your boat ashore
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You made your ultimatum too big to ignore
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So you worked out your excuses,
turned away and shut the door.
The world's too vast for us now,
and you wanted to explore
It's a long, long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your hand again I'd have to walk away.
When I saw you at the street fair, you called out my name
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You said we could start over, try and make it all okay.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So our past has been rewritten
and you threw away the pen.
You'd said that I was useless,
but now you'll take me in again
Well Jesus loves me fine.
And your words fall flat this time.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say,
"We don't have a prayer between us."
Didn't you believe that I have finally turned away?
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
Anything to hold onto to help me through my day.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
Jesus loves me fine.
But his words fall flat this time.
It's a long, long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your world, did you think I'd really stay?
If you offered me the heavens, I would have to turn away.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say,
"We don't have a prayer between us."
Didn't you, now? Didn't you, now?
Didn't you?
song performed by by REM
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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